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Korg CA-30 solo chromatic tuner | 
 enlarge | Brand: Korg
Category: Musical Instruments
List Price: $32.00
Buy New: $13.20
You Save: $18.80 (59%)
New (30)
Avg. Customer Rating:  40 reviews
Sales Rank: 13
Color: black
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Number Of Items: 1
Batteries Included: No
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 6 x 6 x 1
Warranty: 3 year parts and labor
MPN: CA30
Model: KOR CA30
UPC: 603384021878
EAN: 0603384021878
Release Date: July 22, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | Compact chromatic tuner, ideal for brass band or orchestra | | • | High-precision LCD needle-type meter for stable tuning | | • | Wide range of pitch detection covers C1--C8 | | • | Calibration function supports a variety of concert pitches | | • | Reference tone can be produced from an internal speaker. (Sound Out) |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The Korg CA-30 is a compact chromatic tuner with high-tech features, ideal for brass band or orchestra instruments. Tuning - 12 note equal-tempered Detection range - C1 (32.70Hz) - C8 (4186.01Hz) Reference tone - C4 (261.33Hz) - C5 (523.25Hz), One octave (Built-in Speaker) Tuning modes - Meter (auto), Sound (manual) Calibration - 410 - 480Hz (1Hz steps) Tuning accuracy - +/-1cent Sound accuracy - +/-1.5cent Connection jack - Input jack (1/4 mono) Power supply - Two AAA batteries 3V Battery life - Approximately 100 hours Dimensions - Wide 4.1 x Depth 2.52 x Height 0.6 (104mm x 64mm x 15mm) Weight - 2.86 ounces (81 grams) including the batteries
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| Customer Reviews: Read 35 more reviews...
 NICE, INEXPENSIVE BUT FULLY FUNCTIONAL PRODUCT December 14, 2006
17 out of 17 found this review helpful
This is a very fine tuner that allows you to tune any instrument, electronic or acoustical, "spot on." For the price I really didn't expect such a nice product. However, after reading about two minutes of instruction, I was accurately tuning my mandolin and guitar. It is very intuitive to use, is battery operated which makes it useful for on the road, and has has such practical features as auto turn off after non-use for 20 minutes so you don't kill your batteries should you forget to turn it off.
From the Ice-Age to the New-Age for cheap! July 29, 2006
56 out of 66 found this review helpful
A Little History:
I have been a guitar player for forty-odd (some of them, VERY odd) years. For the first thirty of them, I tuned by ear - starting by guessing at what a low E sounded like, then tuning the other five strings by fretting, listening and tuning. I could never understand why the tuning often sounded perfect for one chord, yet remained `off' for others... it took quite a long time to get it right. Then, about ten years ago, I thought I had figured it out. The problem (I thought) was that my guesses at a true "E" were off - so I got myself an "E" tuning fork (320 cycles) and used it to tune the first string. Then, I did as I had always done - fretted and tuned the other five. Not much better as a result - kept having to tune and retune for quite a while to get all chords to sound right. During those years, I tried tuning all six strings to (what I believed was an accurately tuned) piano as well as by ear to tones available online. Nothing gave me better tuning on the first try. Then, I saw an ad for a Chromatic Tuner and lightening struck.
The Realization:
There have been many - each of which has led me closer to what I have now - near perfect tuning on the first go `round! First off, I realized that when we say "E", that is not just one note. It is a range of literally hundreds - perhaps even thousands- of specific tones. The same is true for every note. This is akin, I guess, to the realization as a child, that no matter how many shades of `blue' are in a box of crayons, the chanced of having the precise shade you want for a specific drawing are rare. Purchasing my first Chromatic Tuner (a CT440, manufactured by SwitchMucic and sold through MusiciansFriend.com) moved me a long way along the continuum of learning and accurate tuning. However, that tuner had at least two limitations. Firstly, it's construction is rather light and flimsy - it works OK, but has a second limitation that conaused me to buy the Korg (for about the same price) That is that the Korg has a built in tone generator and speaker allowing the option of tuning that way rather than having only the single option of having tones made by the instrument read and metered back to you. Both tuners have plug-in for electric instruments, and, so far as I can tell, their accuracies are similar. I prefer the Korg for the reasons I have mentioned. Additionally, the Korg can be manually recalibrated for special tuning needs - and `remembers' the original tuning/tones so you can return to it for more `standard' usage. A nice, extra piece of flexibility. The LCD meter is easy to read and colored lights tell you, right away, whether you are sharp, flat (and by how much!) or right on!
As a point of surprising interest, the tuning fork I had used for years turns out to be profoundly FLAT! A shock to me - given that I had grown up learning that tuning forks gave off perfect tones! I have saved it as a reminder that all things are not what they are promoted to be. I guess the round pitch pipe that Ms. Sweeny used to tune up the class in the 5th grade was probably not quite as precise as she would have presumed!
And Finally:
This is a marvelous little (and inexpensive) device - well constructed, accurate and flexible to allow for many different tuning need situations and circumstances. I assume that there will be still higher places for my `learning curve' in this area to rise to - but for right now, this is it. I am using it, regularly, on all my stringed instruments (two six-string Martins, a twelve string Epiphone and a frailing banjo. The time it saves tuning the 12-string alone makes it more than it's own price!)
If you have not discovered Chromatic Tuning (maybe I really WAS the last one to discover these things!?), I suggest you do so immediately and spend your time enjoying the pleasures of making music rather than sitting in frustration trying to adjust the tunings by ear so it sounds `really' right. Perhaps people with `perfect pitch' can do very nicely without a Chromatic Tuner - I am not one of them. Are you?
Korg CA-30 Chromatic Tuner November 10, 2006
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
Definitely would recommend this tuner! The majority of the orchestra and bands that I play in use this tuner during concerts. I personally got it to work on my tuning of timpanis...and it's been a great ear training tool, and essential especially in tough songs that I want to double check my tuning. Great price and holds up through a LOT (i've dropped it a ton of times...). Definitely would recommend it!
Great for tuning a piano June 12, 2008
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
Bought this item to tune a fine, 75 year-old piano that was last tuned 40 years ago; with just a piano lever bought for $15, a single rubber mute, and this Korg tuner, I had all I needed. (And, watched a few videos on the web showing how to use the mutes...)
My concern before buying this was two-fold: could it really "hear" the pitches well, i.e. would it be confused by harmonics, and did it really display the sensitivity I needed to tune the piano so precisely that with my good ear for pitch, I wouldn't be disturbed by it? The answer on both counts is definitely, yes.
Following advice on videos & websites, I first tuned the entire middle octave of the piano just using the Korg, then tuned all other notes using a combination of watching the dial of the Korg, and listening to the current note - comparing to the note I had just tuned an octave away. I was genuinely surprised to find the Korg's precision was better than my ear... (I seem to have a tendency to want to tune everything just a wee bit sharp, according to the Korg. And I know from my singing, that everyone else in a choir always sounds slightly flat to me... this confirmed it for me! ouch! I'm not perfect!)
The Korg reads the pitch and decides (for example) if it's a C or a D-flat, then shows you with its dial-simulated LCD display how far off from its presumed pitch it really is, so that when the needle points "up" you're perfectly in pitch. In addition, you can set the entire Korg's scale up or down, so you're not limited to tuning to A-440 (e.g. you can tune it to A-441 etc. if you prefer.) However, it cannot do non-well-tempered scales; for that, you need a higher model of Korg device.
In the highest and lowest half-octaves of the piano, the Korg began to fail to properly read the note and was useless for tuning; presumably, the harmonics confused it. Not a problem, and it's so hard for the human ear to properly discern very low pitches, I wasn't surprised that the Korg couldn't do it well either.
Regarding the sensitivity of the device, all I can give are a few examples and let you infer for yourself whether it is sensitive enough. First, the Korg device gave me more sensitivity than the piano hammer / lever. That is, with the lever in place adjusting a single note, the most minimal adjustment by the hammer would produce a noticeable difference on the Korg display. That means, that simply applying pressure to the tuning hammer, which makes the tiniest shift of the gear in the piano, would be "read" by the Korg. This also happens to be the absolute minimum that I could detect a pitch change by ear. In other words, the Korg is plenty sensitive. The "resolution" of the Korg barely seems better than my ears -- but my ears are pretty good.
Looking at sensitivity another way: the most sensitive tuning you can do with a piano, when you tune two strings at the same pitch, is to listen to the "beats" (+ and - wave interference of the two pitches.) As you bring the second string into tune with the first, the beats get slower & slower until they finally disappear. Violinists may know that when you play two notes a perfect major third apart, you can sometimes "feel" a third note that results from their interference pattern; it's an incredibly sensitive phenomenon. Well, the Korg wasn't intended to capture the pitch of two notes that are slightly off from each other, but the needle did shift up as I tuned the flat note up, and could distinguish when the two notes were exactly right and the beats disappeared. That, is sensitive indeed, believe me.
As a singer, I'm quite good at hitting notes, e.g. I've got the ability to sing next to someone else... e.g. a quarter tone above them or below them (try it -- most people can't do it) but the Korg is so sensitive, that I defy anyone to sing a note so precisely that the needle rests precisely in the center... that's really a description of how sensitive it is, not how off-pitch a singer I can be! Believe me, this device is quite sensitive.
Various other things:
There is a groove embossed in back into which you can insert an old credit card that will make it stand up -- useful, but if it collapses and the card falls inside the piano...
The model I bought in 2008 was made in Vietnam. That was a first for me, and I'm glad to see it.
More expensive Korg models will let you adopt different tunings other than well-tempered. But would I ever re-tune a piano non-temperered? Highly doubtful, and if I ever really need to, then I'll buy the more expensive Korg.
The Korg can also play a tone, a synethesized single-pitch that sounds like a sine wave, on any note. Useful for tuning a violin etc., and the pitch is more reliable than a tuning fork (beware of cheap tuning forks.)
This Korg model doesn't act as a metronome; others do. I haven't used a metronome since I was a kid learning to keep a consistent beat, and I don't believe any musician should ever use a metronome... unless if they need to play at a specific pace for a commercial recording or something that needs precise timing. (Metronomes stifle proper musicality.) Think carefully, and I seriously doubt you'll ever want a portable metronome in a Korg device like this. So I believe for 97% of shoppers, this is the item for them, as it was for me.
Excellent, Portable Tuner January 23, 2007
10 out of 11 found this review helpful
This is an excellent portable tuner for most instruments. It's also Chromatic, meaning it has the whole 12 notes of the music scale, not just 1, like a tuning fork.
It is very easy to use, just four buttons. Auto Off. You can calibrate the Frequencies to use (beginners needn't worry about this). It also produces tones of any note you desire, including sharps/flats. It has a built in Mic and auto-note recognition, or you can input an electric instrument into the side for tuning in noisy environments.
The batteries (2 AAA) last forever.
Quick and responsive LCD needle display, plus LED displays indicating Sharp or Flat.
The only negatives are that it doesn't stand upright (a business card can be inserted into the back slot to make it stand upright). It is also possible to damage the LCD screen if dropped or stepped on, so take care of it.
An incredible value for a very good price. Definitely a great gift for any musician.
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